Christian the Lion

Okay, everyone in the world has probably seen this, but this is the most touching thing I've seen in a long time. Please watch this remarkable video!

Christian the Lion

Counting the Days - 9 and Counting

Well, nine days to go to the big day. 1st Grade! Last week we had a home visit from Sunshine's 1st Grade teacher, Miss Wang. The visit was wonderful and she is an absolute delight. As much as I want him to go to school, as bored as he is at home and as ready as he is to go....it is so bittesweet.

I cry when I think of him leaving home for (gulp) 7 hours per day. His day is really 6 hours but he will have to stay at school until hour 7 as we are working folk. Well,,,I'll be working soon and Nathan works, so we're working folk.

I know he will thrive in the Waldorf environment and his teacher will give him so much love and so many wonderful experiences, but he is 6 and he is my baby and I cry daily when thinking of his transition.

I want the next week and a half to be the best. He spent the weekend with his grandparents hiking and fishing and playing badmitton. Today we lounged around here reading and playing and he ran in the sprinklers. He is playing with the neighbors now. Check back as we will be counting down the days and relaying our adventures for the day.

I'll leave you with this....we were considering giving Noah a gift to commemorate his 1st day of 1st grade. One of the parents, German, told us of a German tradition of giving a cone filled with gifts on the that special first day. So, that's what we will do. Here is a link to a photo of a kid with a cone. Keep in mind this is a little bigger than we will use! Commercialism at its best. Keeps getting bigger!

Mamma Mia

Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, ABBA and a Greek Island. What more can a girl want? Well, to see this movie with her best girlfriends. However, said girlfriends said they would rather "stick hot pokers in their eyes" than see this movie. So, I went with my best guy friend, whose name I shall not mention here.

Well, the opening of the movie was a bit slow and I was a little worried. You would have been, too. But, it soon picked up and what we have is a fabulous musical with some great actors/actresses. Meryl Streep still has the ability to wow me and Pierce Brosnan...well, he was a Bond....enough said.

None of the cast sings very well, but I don't think they are supposed to. The movie was cute and campy and is just a feel good story that all women should see with their best friends, mothers, sisters, etc.

I cried during several parts of the movie and was so moved over watching the main character - Donna - sing about the times she had with her daughter growing up. It may have been a little too close to home for me as I prepare to send Noah off to school in 9 short days. Where has the time gone?

So...see Mamma Mia. My MIL loved it even more than the Broadway version which she loved on Broadway!

See it today.

Dana

The Children

Yesterday I was saddened to learn of the senseless shooting that occured during the worship services of the Tennessee Valley Uniatarion Unviersalist Church in Knoxville, TN. I am saddened by any such tragedy - any such violence - as are most. I cried over Columbine, the shooting of the children in an Amish school, and of course 911. This struck me in a different way, however. This was an attack on a Unitarian Universalist church. So, it really hit home.

Tonight, after returning home from a mournful gathering at my own UU church, I have these thoughts to share.

I prayed today for the congregants of the church. I prayed today for those shot and injured, but who survived the shooting. I prayed today for the friends and family members who lost two beloved souls - one at least who stepped in front of the gunman. I prayed today, yes, for the gunman, whose tortured life drove him to this desperate act. I prayed for each of us, Unitarian Universalist, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and more, who know that these things can occur in place of worship, though we pray they do not.

But, mostly, my thoughts and prayers are on the children. You see, the children were putting on a long awaited production of a musical for the congregation. The children were present. They saw the gunman and the shootings. My heart breaks for them - the children who were in what should be the safest place on Earth outside of their own homes have had that safety forever shattered.

Please pray with me for these people today.

Thank you.

www.uua.org for more info.

The Flowers

Well, I won't go into too many details as I do not want the children identified on my blog but this is a great story with a happy ending.

We have these two friends, the Flowers, who also have a little girl who is Noah's age. Tasha, the mom, and I met at homeschool PE at the Y and became friends. Noah and their little girl hit it off and became friends as well. Tasha and I realized that we were both in the adoption process which further cemented our friendship. We later found out that her husband works with Nathan. Amazing!

Nearly two years ago this great couple applied to adopt two little boys from foster care. Though there were many roadblocks (mainly due to the ineptitude of the US Foster Care System), it took that long for them to be approved and receive the boys into their home. One boy has been in foster care since age 2 and the other since birth. They are two of many siblings who are all also in foster care due to the birth Mother's inability to care for them. In fact, she voluntarily relinquished custody of at least two of the children. (That's really beside the point but I like to put that in there for those folks out there who may have stumbled across this and think that adoption is never a good choice).

Anyhoo....our friends were able to bring their boys home this week at last and have now added these two little lights into their homes. We are so thrilled for them and their happy ending and pray for a quick and smooth transition for the entire family.

In Review

Good morning all. Well, I can report that I have been up since 4AM. One of our hundreds of cats (just kidding, one of our four cats) woke us up at 4AM crying. This went on for 15 or 20 minutes until I put her in the garage. Upon returning to bed I heard Noah fussing in the next room. I went to check on him and found a child with a very high fever, headache and upset stomach. Oh no. Other than the obvious, which is I feel so sad when he is sick, I have a noon hair appointment, we have an afternoon playdate with our friends who just returned with their new sons (see next post) and we have dinner plans with the Matuseks at Fulin's. So, I was looking for a bright point for my day and was reminded that we are in The Review Room!

What is The Review Room? The review room is the office within the CCAA where our dossier is gone over with a fine tooth comb to be determined if we are qualified to proceed to the next stage of the the adoption process. If we are okayed our file will be moved on to another office where someday it will be matched with an orphan child waiting for a forever family. Or, hopefully, in our case, it will be moved on to be matched soon with a special need or waiting child. This is good news. If we are matched by our agency with a WC, then it is good that we are out of review so we can have our file quickly moved through the rest of the process.

I am very excited about this! This is a good thing. Now, let's cross our fingers and make a wish that our dossier is moved through without any problems. Happy Friday to you.

The Mudcakes

I have been remiss in my duties as a friend by not posting a link from my blog to my dear friend's website. They are The Mudcakes, also known as Rick and Sherry. Two incredibly talented people who happen to have married and have produced what I am sure are two talented children. I wouldn't know, though, they up and moved from our area to the land of plenty of sun and fun - Australia. To be fair, Sherry is from there, so she has merely returned home.

A few years ago they made one of the best kids CD's I've ever heard and we still do no tire of listening to songs, such as "Poo Party" and "That's A No No." Check out the link above or click on the Mudcakes image on the left to go to the website to hear some of the songs.

2-Wheeler

My story begins a couple of weeks ago. Noah requested that his training wheels be removed from his bike. Okay. I'm a little nervous. Not a very brave child normally, this is sort of going out on a limb. I take them off. That day I was on the upswing from a nasty sinus infection so I only had about 5 minutes in me to push him up and down the driveway trying to get a feel for a 2-wheeler. A couple of times over the next week or so, Nathan works with him a little until one or both of them became frustrated.

Next came Thursday night of last week. It was a lovely night, a little cool. Noah had been playing all day outside with the neighbors and was exhausted but wanted to try the bike again. This time, we do it in the backyard. This is a little tougher but with a softer landing should anything happen. Within four or five tries, Nathan was able to let go of the back of his bike. In an hour, Noah was outside in the cul-de-sac riding confidently in circles. He hasn't looked back.

He was so proud of himself. He really realized that had accomplished a major feat and this really put him in league with the kids out on the street! We are so proud of him. The only downside is his legs will soon be too long for him to ride his bike easily. We bought the cheapest bike we could find as the first bike - the trainer bike. I guess the next one will be serious!